Sale of gov’t assets to fund Arroyo’s post-2010 ambitions – ANAKBAYAN

June 5, 2010

November 3, 2009

Sale of gov’t assets to fund Arroyo’s post-2010 ambitions – ANAKBAYAN

Youth group Anakbayan today criticized the proposed sale of several government assets, saying the funds would most likely be used to finance Gloria Arroyo’s campaign to run for another government position once her term as president ends.

Among the assets up for sale are: shares in Petron, San Miguel Corporation, and PNOC Energy Exploration Corporation; the 103-hectare complex of the FTI (Food Terminal Incorporated) in Taguig, the complex of the National Center for Mental Health and the Boys Town in Mandaluyong, the premises of the national penitentiary in Muntinlupa City, the Home for the Aged in Quezon City, and the Philippine Postal Corporation; and the property in Tokyo, Japan which houses the residence of the Phil. ambassador to Japan.

“It’s no coincidence that these government properties are being privatized around the same time that Arroyo’s allies are conditioning the people that there is widespread clamor for her to run again” said Anakbayan chairperson Ken Ramos.

“It’s a question of survival. Come 2010 and the loss of presidential immunity, Arroyo will be virtually buried alive with cases of corruption and human rights violations. She needs another elected position to protect her. How does the most hated person in the country get to win an election? With billions of pesos” he said.

“Maybe that’s why she wants to sell the National Penitentiary, so we won’t have a place to relocate her from Malacañang” he added.

Ramos cited the recent call of six Pampanga mayors for Arroyo to run as Representative of her hometown district, as well as the claim of lawyer Romulo Macalintal that she can run for any position except the presidency, as ways to “condition” the public into accepting Arroyo’s post-2010 government career.

He further added that the proceeds of the proposed sales would not benefit the poor as the share of social services in the proposed 2010 budget is dismal. He cited a recent study by the IBON Foundation which calculated that the 2010 budget would only translate to six pesos per student daily.

“They haven’t even allocated enough money to rehabilitate schools damaged by the past few typhoons, or to provide proper relocation sites to those who were made homeless. There’s no way we’re trusting Arroyo and her allies with that much money” said Ramos.

Ramos said the proposed privatization plans are only the latest in a long line of cases in which Arroyo and her allies sacrificed public welfare for their private benefit. If anything, he said, it would rebound on them in the form of public outrage by a citizenry sick of at least eight years of Arroyo rule.

“If Arroyo is having an ‘everything must go’ sale with public property, then the public will make sure ‘Arroyo must go’ by 2010” he added. ###